When CBS correspondent Lara Logan was attacked on the job in Egypt last year, Maher joked on Real Time that military commander Hosni Mubarak "must put her intrepid hotness on a plane immediately. In exchange, we will send Elisabeth Hasselbeck." (It was later revealed that Logan was brutally attacked and sexually assaulted by a mob.)

"So forgive this idiotic Republican for bringing this to your brilliant mind," Hasselbeck, an outspoken Republican, said in reference to the joke. "You can't tell me that's funny."

"We do a comedy show for an audience that's perhaps different from your audience," Maher, 55, said. "You are a public figure. [That joke] was not aimed at you personally, but when you are a public figure, you're out there and you're fodder for comedians to make comments on you."

Although Maher apologized if he offended Hasselbeck, 34, he didn't really seem to regret his choice of words. When asked if he'd go back in time and make the same joke again, he said: "If I had a crystal ball and knew I was coming here and had to spend my whole segment talking about it, no I would not. But worse things have happened."